


All It Takes Is Patience

by shesbreathless



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: 5+1 Things, Fluff and Smut, Light Angst, M/M, for like 12 seconds, levi is the definition of gay panic and i love it, nico is just too cool for words
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 01:44:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16863874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shesbreathless/pseuds/shesbreathless
Summary: 5 times in which Nico teaches Levi patience, and one time in which Levi does.





	All It Takes Is Patience

**Author's Note:**

> In this, I'm assuming that Nico is part Italian because Alex Landi is, but I could be wrong! We have to see how the show develops his character.  
> The title is from Patience by Guns N' Roses.

1.

He pricks himself with the needle for what feels like the hundredth time. His hands are shaking and there are tears pooling in his eyes, but he knows that if he stops now he’ll just break down.

He needs to do it to show himself that he can. Because he knows that he can, he’s practiced this so much and he knows it.

He can still feel the patient’s skin ripping underneath his fingers as if it was made of thin paper. He tightens the last suture he did and he’s still worried that it’s going to do more harm than good.

He looks down at the banana in his hands, full of stitches. They’re well done ones, because he’s a good doctor, he knows how to do these things. But somehow he’d managed to mess up in the OR, and he can’t keep the image of blood just flowing freely out of his mind.

Dr. Webber had tried to guide him into fixing it, but he was frozen in his spot, panic making him step away from the table, in hope that somebody else, someone who knew what to do, would take over.

Before he can stop himself, he’s crying, tears rolling down his cheeks and falling on top of the sutured banana.

He stabs it one more time with the needle and tries doing another stitch, but his trembling fingers can’t grip it right, and the peel is too hard, and he can’t see, and-

“Levi, what’s wrong?” he hears Nico’s deep voice call out, and he just gives up on holding back.

He turns around and Nico reaches out to touch him everywhere, from his face, to his shoulders, to his hands, and back to his face. Doctor’s instinct, he guesses, to check for anything that is physically wrong, and Levi feels even worse when Nico looks at him, obviously confused.

“Are you hurt?” Nico asks him, and Levi just shakes his head, still crying. “Then what happened?”

Levi wants to tell him, he does, but when he tries only a loud sob comes out. He lifts his arms and hopes that Nico understands. And he does, of course he does, because Nico is amazing, and Levi definitely doesn’t deserve him.

He sits down beside him on the bench and wraps him up in a big hug. Levi buries his face in Nico’s shoulder and lets himself sob for a few minutes.

Nico doesn’t ask questions, just keeps the hug tight and strokes his hands up and down Levi’s back.

When he feels like he can breathe normally, he raises his head and tries to look Nico in the eyes, to see if he looks like he thinks he’s gone completely mad. He doesn’t, obviously, but he does look very worried.

“I messed up,” is all he manages to say before fresh tears spring up.

Nico tries to brush them away with his thumbs. “What do you mean?”

“I, I couldn’t even do a simple stitch, a-and there was blood, but I-“ he stops to gulp in air. “I didn’t mean to, Nico, I w-wanted to, and then, and then-“

He doesn’t get to finish because suddenly there’s a hand pushing his head back down on Nico’s shoulder, and he doesn’t have the strength to fight it.

“It’s okay,” Nico whispers in his ear. “Was the patient okay?”

Levi nods and relaxes into the hug. Dr. Webber took care of everything, and there really hadn’t been any emergency, but he had still felt like the world had fallen on top of him.

“I didn’t know what to do,” Levi says in a small voice.

Instead of answering, Nico picks up the banana and inspects it.

“Is this the stitch you were trying to do?” he asks Levi, who blushes in shame but nods.

Nico grabs one of Levi’s hands, which are lying on his lap, and guides it with his own to grab the needle.

“You did a great job,” he explains quietly. “But there is a trick to make it easier. It takes longer, but works better.”

He moves Levi’s fingers with his own, showing him a different way to do the same stitch he had been obsessing about earlier. It is better, tighter and more stable feeling, and with Nico’s help it feels like the easiest thing ever.

By the time they’ve done a whole row, Levi isn’t even paying attention anymore. Two last tears fall down his cheeks, but his heart is beating so fast that he feels like it’s going to jump out of his chest. He looks up at Nico’s profile and he almost wants to start crying all over again, but for a completely different reason.

He wraps his arms around Nico’s waist and hugs him tightly, trying to convey everything he doesn’t know how to say out loud.

“This may be worse than the glasses thing,” he mumbles when Nico finally puts down the poor banana. He’ll eat it later, he decides.

“I’ll tell you something,” Nico tells him, leaning down to drop a kiss on Levi’s head. “The first time I had to break a bone, I was so nervous I hit myself in the face with the patient’s leg.”

There’s a couple of seconds of silence. Levi is just trying to picture it, a version of Nico his age who isn’t as great at what he does as Levi sees him now.

“And,” apparently he isn’t done embarrassing himself. “I passed out for like, five minutes.”

Nope, Levi still refuses to laugh.

“ _And,_ ” Nico looks Levi straight in the eye. “I had a black eye for a week after that.”

It really isn’t that funny, but Levi can’t help but laugh out loud at the mental image. He turns around and straddles the bench, slipping one leg behind Nico’s back and the other one across his lap to hug him sideways.

Nico bends down to kiss him on his head again, then on his forehead, then on the tip of his nose, and finally, gently, on his lips.

“You never stop learning in this job,” Nico says. “And you’re not supposed to. You’re just starting, Levi. It’s okay to mess up sometimes.”

“I know,” Levi breathes, finally free of the guilt he felt. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Nico kisses him again sweetly.

They end up sharing the banana and staying in the same position on the bench, in the interns’ changing room, for a good thirty minutes, then Nico has to get ready for surgery, and Levi has to run the post-op tests for the patient that started this all.

They probably won’t see each other again until the end of their shifts, which is hours away, but it’s okay. It’ll be worth the wait.

2.

“He’s so hot.”

Levi grips the pen so hard he fears it’s going to break. He is forcing himself to keep his mouth shut.

“You don’t know what I’d give to tear those scrubs off him.”

A smirk makes a brief appearance on Levi’s face. He almost says it out loud, _I do on a daily basis_.

The patient he’s trying to draw blood from keeps moving around, and the fact that she’s talking to someone on the phone about what she wants to do to Nico doesn’t help.

Levi isn’t jealous, because if he turns his head just right, he can still feel the dull pain of the love bite Nico gave him this morning before rounds began.

“You should have seen the way he touched me while he was checking me,” the patient continues. “If I didn’t have this damn cast, I’d – hey, be careful!”

Levi gives up on doing the rest of the tests on her. She’s perfectly fine anyway, could have been discharged yesterday, but she obviously wanted to stay and ruin his day. And flirt with his – with Nico.

He finishes updating her chart and starts packing up to move onto the next patient.

“Do you know when Dr. Kim will come back?” the patient asks, looking hopeful.

Levi almost feels sorry for her. He opens his mouth to let her down gently, but he gets interrupted by Nico walking into the room with a wide smile.

“Susan! You’re looking good this morning,” he tells the patient.

“Not as good as you, Doctor,” she laughs obnoxiously.

Levi watches the exchange with a raised eyebrow.

“How is she doing, Dr. Schmitt?” Nico directs the question to Levi expectantly.

“She’s ready to go home, Dr. Kim,” Levi gives them both a fake smile.

Oblivious to his growing annoyance, Nico and _Susan_ keep chatting about how great the weather is, what a waste it would be to spend all day inside, maybe they should go for a coffee and a walk in the park.

Levi slams the patient’s chart shut and storms out of the room.

It’s not until later in the afternoon that Nico finds him sat alone at a table in the cafeteria, one spoon hanging from his mouth, arms crossed, and sight focused on something on the other side of the room.

“Hi,” Nico says, sitting down in front of him.

Levi’s only reaction is moving his eyes to look at him.

“What are you up to?” Nico asks him, kicking his leg lightly underneath the table.

Levi just squints.

Nico squints back.

“Did she leave?” Levi asks, letting the spoon fall.

He can see Nico debating whether it’s a smart idea to act as if he doesn’t know what he means. He must decide that it isn’t.

“Her labs are all over the place, so she’s staying another night.”

Levi resumes his pondering stance. “Of course.”

Nico cocks his head to the side and reaches out to run two fingers along Levi’s forearm.

“Did I do something wrong?”

Levi can feel all the fight leave his body. He drops his arms and takes Nico’s still outstretched hand in his. A point of contact always helps.

“She’s been trying to get in your pants since the day she was admitted,” he states.

Nico shrugs. “She’s been trying to get into everyone’s pants.”

“She hasn’t been trying to get into mine,” Levi frowns.

“That’s because she can tell you hate her.”

Levi actually feels embarrassed about that. He really hadn’t been treating her well.

“I don’t hate her,” he says quietly. “But I really want to tell her to fuck off.”

Nico laughs and brings their joined hands to drop a kiss on Levi’s. He visibly considers his next words.

“I understand that, I do,” he starts. “But if I were you, I’d wait.”

Then, all of a sudden, he stands, quickly kisses Levi on the cheek, and leaves.

Levi stays there, arms still extended in front of him, and confused expression on his face. What’s that supposed to mean? Wait for what? Then his pager goes off and he’s running through the halls.

-

Six hours later, it’s eight at night, it’s dark out, and he wants to go home. He would like to see Nico before going, but he hadn’t been able to find him anywhere all night.

“Do you think he’d like this shade of red on me?”

Susan has moved onto facetiming her friend and is currently showing her the lipstick she’s wearing. Levi really cannot wait to never see her again.

“I’m totally asking him out as soon as he comes back, he won’t say no to this,” she says, and Levi pities her.

He’s about to speak up and tell her that she has no chance, leaving out the actual reason why, but he doesn’t need to, because Nico walks in looking like a dream, dressed in a white short sleeve button down tucked into dark grey slacks.

Both Levi and Susan stare at him, mouths wide open.

Nico nods in hello and walks around the bed, picking up her chart and tutting when he reaches about halfway through the page. He then looks up at her with a considering look.

“You look like you need a good night’s rest, Susan,” he tells her, his face serious. “So, me and Dr. Schmitt will leave you to it.”

He smiles at her, walks back towards the door, and then looks over his shoulder at Levi.

“You coming, babe?”

Levi is too busy having an internal meltdown about _babe_ to think to look at Susan’s face. Or answer Nico.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Levi shakes himself out of it and jumps into motion. He steps forward into Nico’s space, takes his hand and happily waves to Susan, who looks just the right mix of mortified and envious.

“Bye, Susan, sleep well!” he calls out while he drags Nico out and away from her room.

When they’re far enough, Levi stops in his tracks. Nico crashes into him and almost sends them both falling to the ground, but Levi feels too fuzzy inside to care.

He turns around and kisses the satisfied smirk off his face.

“That was so mean, I love it,” he says between kisses.

Nico has the biggest smile on his face. “You do?”

“I do."

3.

Sometimes, just sometimes, Levi wonders why he does these things to himself.

He’s covered in papers and books, his stomach is grumbling like an angry beast, and he can still feel the taste of the ink of the pen that had exploded in his mouth earlier.

Dr. Grey is going to kill him if he doesn’t find a solution to this. She’s going to kill him and then use him as a threat for other interns not to mess up like him.

“Here you go,” Nico appears in his peripheral vision, holding a white plastic bag.

“Oh, thank god,” Levi immediately rips the bag open and stuffs a handful of chips in his mouth.

“You know, you should really eat some real food,” Nico suggests.

“Spare me the doctor talk, please,” Levi interrupts him with his mouth half full. “I don’t have time for real food.”

Nico sits down beside him and picks up a random paper. About five seconds pass before he gets bored and hooks his chin on Levi’s shoulder. Levi takes a chip out of the bag and offers it up to Nico’s lips.

“You’ll work better after some good food and sleep,” he tells Levi, biting off half the chip.

“I’ll work better when I’m done with this,” Levi snaps.

He feels bad about it immediately, but it’s too late to take it back now.

Nico kisses the side of his neck and steals another chip. Levi smiles despite himself and lays his head on Nico’s for a moment.

“Hear me out,” Nico covers the paper Levi’s holding with a hand. “I’m going to talk to Meredith into giving you the night off, then you’re going to come over to my place for a real meal.”

Levi finally looks up with a tired smile. “You would do that?”

“Of course,” Nico starts gathering all the documents. “This can wait until the morning.”

Levi grabs Nico’s face with both hands and smacks a loud kiss on his lips. Nico then jogs off to look for Meredith, and Levi is left alone.

Which leads him to think about what Nico’s said. Specifically, about coming over to his place. As in, Nico’s house. Where he lives. Presumably by himself.

Levi goes off on a panic tangent of a completely different kind.

-

Less than half an hour later, he’s sitting on Nico’s couch, a forkful of spaghetti in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. Nico looks like the textbook definition of smugness.

“I don’t know if I want to cry or jump you,” he says with his eyes closed. “Maybe I’ll do both.”

Nico laughs but doesn’t necessarily look put off by the prospect. Levi takes note of that; he respects a man that doesn’t fear emotions.

He unfolds his legs from underneath himself and turns to the side so that he can plop them on Nico’s lap. He’s feeling more energetic after eating, and the novelty of being in Nico’s house hasn’t worn off yet.

He’s only seen the kitchen and the living room so far, but he feels like he’s in a movie, with the way the light reflects on every shiny surface of the modern, yet lived-in looking, décor.

“Do you want seconds?” Nico asks him.

“No, thank you,” Levi passes him his plate to be put away.

Nico settles back down and takes Levi’s feet in his hands to massage them. Levi can’t help but moan loud at the feeling of Nico’s strong fingers digging into his arches.

“God bless ortho,” he pushes into the touch.

“I told you it would be worth it,” Nico smirks.

Levi grunts and pushes his head back against the couch. If he focuses enough, he thinks he might have it in him to find this arousing.

“I’m gonna give you the best blowjob of your life,” he mumbles sleepily.

“Are you?” Nico wonders, watching as he fights to keep his eyes open.

Levi thinks better about what he just said. He’d totally meant it, but he hadn’t taken in consideration that he hadn’t done it enough to make that promise. He looks at Nico up and down with one eye closed. Yeah, he’s doing this.

“If you’re up for it,” he shrugs, answering Nico’s question.

He can see something lighting in Nico’s eyes, but it’s too controlled for his liking.

“You don’t have to if you’re tired,” he says.

Levi gets even harder at that. He really lucked out.

He scoots over until he can straddle Nico, who immediately puts both hands on his ass and squeezes. They lean in at the same time, meeting in the middle for an urgent kiss.

Levi fits a hand between them and rubs over Nico’s bulge. His hips jump up to meet his touch, so Levi slides down between Nico’s legs until he reaches the floor. He quickly pops open the button of his jeans.

“Nico,” he kisses the tip of his dick through his pants.

“Yeah?” Nico’s breathing is getting more laboured every second that Levi doesn’t get on with it.

“Can I bring some of the pasta with me tomorrow for lunch?”

Nico stops moving for a second and then bursts out laughing. He pulls Levi up with a hand behind his head and kisses him until they’re both breathless.

“You can have all the pasta you want if it makes you this happy.”

Levi moans into the next kiss, then steps back down and gets to work.

4.

It’s raining outside, there’s a chill in the air, but Nico is running his fingers through Levi’s hair with one hand, and he’s drumming a rhythm on his chest with the other one.

“Io… ha?”

“Io ho,” Nico corrects him.

They’re lying on a couch in the fellows’ lounge, Nico sitting upright and Levi sideways, with his head on Nico’s lap. He’s got a stack of paper and a pen in his hand, because he’s decided he wants Nico to teach him Italian.

“Can’t we just skip the grammatical stuff?” Levi asks, frustrated at how long it’s taking.

“You can’t learn a language without grammar,” Nico points out.

“I don’t need to become fluent,” Levi sits up. “I want to impress Dr. DeLuca, he’s not my biggest fan.”

Nico follows his movement to keep brushing through his hair. He looks like he wants to disagree, but he decides against it. It’s not Levi himself, it’s just his general being an intern.

Levi scoots even closer to Nico on the couch and presses their noses together.

“How do you say ‘you’re cool’?” he whispers.

Nico leans in for a kiss, but Levi pulls back before their lips touch. He raises his eyebrows and looks at Nico, waiting for an answer before giving in.

Nico grabs his chin and gently guides Levi’s head up. Levi just stares at him.

“Sei un figo,” Nico says.

Levi smiles radiantly at him. He pushes against Nico’s grip on his chin and finally kisses him, pushing him back onto the couch and crawling on top of him.

Nico doesn’t waste any time in sliding his hands inside the shirt of Levi’s scrubs, scratching his back with one and stroking between and over his nipples with the other.

They’re not actually going to do anything, because it’s the middle of both of their shifts, the middle of the day, and they’re in the middle of the room, but still. Some intimacy is nice.

Nico bites his lower lip, raising his hands to grip Levi’s hair once again, knocking Levi’s glasses half off his head.

Levi jumps up and falls off the couch when the door of the lounge slams open.

“Oh, that’s hot,” Jo cocks her head to the side. “Sorry, guys.”

Levi gets back on the couch and straightens his clothes, fixes his glasses. He looks to the side and sees that Nico is still lying back, limbs all spread apart, so he pulls him back up with a hand fisted in his shirt.

“Hello, Dr. Karev,” Levi greets her.

“Hi, Levi,” she looks at them apologetically. “Dr. Bailey asked me to get Nico for a consult.”

“Yeah, sure, we weren’t- I mean, we were, but not-“ he fumbles in trying to explain himself.

Interrupting him, Nico drops a loud kiss on Levi’s cheek before standing up and leaving with Jo.

Levi allows himself a moment to close his eyes and scream internally. Then he springs up and goes looking for Dr. DeLuca to buy his respect with compliments in his mother tongue.

-

He finds him standing at the nurses’ station, filling out some paperwork. He thinks back to the short lesson Nico had given him, and repeats the only full sentence he’d learned a few times in his head.

He can’t be sure that he remembers exactly what Nico had said, but he’d managed to fit enough basic grammar in his head to know what he’s doing. He’s pretty sure. Maybe.

“Can I help you, Dr. Schmitt?”

Levi realises that he’s been standing in front of him without saying anything for way too long.

In a moment of panic, he puts together all the notions about verbs, and nouns, and articles, and…

“Ho la figa!” he exclaims.

Andrew just blinks at him.

Levi can feel the blood chilling in his veins. He’s obviously messed that up big time.

He tries to say something, anything to make the stunned expression on Andrew’s face change into something more positive, but before he can even try, he hears somebody laughing loudly behind him.

He turns around slowly. Nico is folded in half, one hand on the desk keeping him from just falling to the ground. Levi can feel how red his face has gotten, because everyone is looking in their direction.

“If it was supposed to be a joke, I can laugh,” Andrew offers.

Levi immediately starts apologising profusely. “I don’t know what I just said but it’s not what I meant.”

Andrew tries explaining it to him, how much of a misunderstanding he’d managed to create just by changing a few letters of what he thought was a perfectly acceptable sentence.

“I guess you really can’t skip the grammatical stuff, huh?” he manages to mumble.

Nico, who’s obviously eavesdropped the whole thing, cracks up again. Levi directs one last pleading-for-forgiveness look at Andrew, who just waves him off, then turns around, grabs Nico’s hand, and drags him away.

He plans to crawl in a hole where nobody will find him. Maybe he’ll let Nico in. If he stops laughing.

5.

“I want you,” Levi breathes out.

Nico leaves a trail of bites down Levi’s neck, stopping right over his collarbone to suck a love bite into his skin. “You have me.”

Levi shakes his head, grabbing Nico’s shoulders with both hands. He hikes the one leg he has wrapped around Nico’s hip higher and tries to rub up against him.

The metal shelf they’re leaning on wobbles dangerously, and a couple of plastic bags come crashing to the ground beside them.

“I _want_ you,” he says again, more urgently.

Nico gives him a confused look, but keeps hitching up his hips. A moan escapes his lips when their movements align just right and their dicks rub against each other.

“Do you have stuff?” Levi asks him, figuring that he has to be the one to move things along.

“Stuff for what?”

Levi rolls his eyes and laughs. Surely he’s joking. It’s not very funny in the moment, but he can be supportive if he needs to.

“Lube, a condom, you know…” he resigns himself to having to explain. “Stuff.”

“What?” Nico actually steps back to look him in the eye.

“What?” Levi repeats. “You don’t want to?”

Nico looks like he’s never heard anything more absurd. “In a storage closet?”

“Why not?” Levi is actually getting annoyed now. “We have time.”

Nico takes his face in his hands and pauses for a few seconds. “You’re not having sex for the first time like this.”

Levi can feel a wave of embarrassment wash over him, and he gets defensive.

“I’ve had sex before,” he realises he sounds like a petulant teenager, but he can’t help it.

“Not like this,” Nico points out.

He slides his hands down to Levi’s shoulders and along his arms, until he can move them to press on the small of his back. Levi lets him, but keeps scowling.

He’s starting to feel very dumb, and he wants nothing more than for this moment to end. He tries to dislodge Nico’s hands and move away from him, but he doesn’t let him.

“I want to as well,” Nico pins him to the wall with his body. “God, I want to. But do you want to have to explain to Dr. Bailey why you’re limping through the halls?”

Levi blushes furiously. “Don’t overestimate yourself.”

Nico chuckles and pushes his forehead against Levi’s. “Do you want the serious or sexy answer to that?”

Levi pretends to think about it. He tries to angle his head so that he can look Nico in the eyes, but his glasses get in the way.

“The sexy one,” he decides.

Nico brushes his lips over his cheekbone until he reaches his ear. “I’m not overestimating.”

Levi’s fingers clench around the bottom of Nico’s shirt. He pushes him away and moves towards the door.

“You’re mean,” he accuses. “Tonight I’m coming over and you’re fucking me.”

He turns around and leaves, leaving Nico standing there with a stunned expression on his face.

-

He won’t admit it because he’s the embodiment of pride, but Nico was right: he doesn’t see how he could ever have survived this in the hospital.

The windows of Nico’s bedroom are wide open to let in some of the pleasantly warm air, the bed is as soft as a cloud underneath Levi’s naked skin, and Nico has three fingers fucking in and out of him.

“Oh,” he moans when he presses just right.

He’s sweating and he wants to fold his legs underneath himself to get a better angle, but Nico is sitting on the back of his thighs and he’s not letting him move.

Levi feels Nico shifting around and then taking his fingers out. He lifts his head from where it was pressed into the bed to gulp in some fresh air. Out of the corner of his eye he can see Nico rolling a condom on himself.

“You doing okay?” Nico asks.

Levi nods and wiggles his hips as much as he can.

He thought he’d be more nervous at this point, but with Nico here he feels like there is nothing that could go wrong. And besides, so far everything has felt unbelievably good.

“Anytime you want to stop, just say so,” Nico warns.

Levi nods again and thinks about urging him on, but then Nico is spreading his cheeks and pressing in slowly, and he stops thinking altogether.

It takes a couple of tries and position changes to actually get the head in, but from there it mostly goes smoothly.

Nico is careful not to move too fast or roughly, and Levi is definitely and helplessly in love. He’ll tell him that later, though.

“Oh, babe,” Nico groans when Levi curves his back.

He grabs Levi’s hips to test a different angle, thrusting back in a little harder, and Levi sees stars behind his eyelids.

“Oh my god, harder,” he reaches back with one hand to hold onto Nico’s thigh.

He can feel his orgasm building in his lower belly already, and from the way Nico’s muscles are shaking underneath his fingers, he thinks they’re in this together.

Nico spreads Levi’s cheeks further apart with one hand and traces Levi’s hole with his fingers. He pushes against the taut skin and then slides down to press on his taint.

Levi is sure he’s gonna die before this is over.

“Wait, wait,” he calls out.

Nico freezes immediately. Levi wants to marry him instantaneously.

“Let me turn around, I want to see you,” he explains, and Nico climbs off him.

They rearrange themselves so that Levi can wrap his legs around Nico’s hips. When he pushes back in it feels more raw, and Levi realises how much he’s going to feel this later. Totally worth it.

Nico starts moving again, this time with more drive to finish soon. He catches Levi’s lips and kisses him.

“There, right there,” Levi suddenly gasps.

Nico takes his new mission to heart and moves in short, hard thrusts. Levi flails and grabs onto Nico’s neck with one hand, and reaches down to stroke his dick.

“I’m so close,” he moans.

“Me too,” Nico bites his neck.

They keep moving together until the tightening in Levi’s belly overpowers everything else, and he gives into the feeling, tensing up and coming harder than he has in a long time.

Nico follows almost immediately after, biting down on Levi’s shoulder.

They lie together in the same spot for what feels like an eternity, breathing hard. Levi winces when Nico pulls out to dispose of the condom, but quickly forgets about it when he gets wrapped up in a hug.

“Uh,” is all he manages to say.

Nico laughs and leans in to kiss him on the cheek, reaching for the discarded duvet on the floor and covering them both.

Levi cuddles back into his arms and sighs. There will be time for words later.

+1

The whole hallway is quiet, the lights are dimmed, and there is a pleasant scent wafting around. The only real movement is Nico’s hand brushing up and down on Levi’s chest.

They’re swaying gently, Nico hugging Levi from behind, one arm going over his shoulder and the other wrapped around his waist. Levi’s eyes are barely open, content in being surrounded by warmth and strong muscles.

In front of them is the window looking into the nursery.

“I love this,” Levi says quietly.

He loves that they both know that this isn’t about the babies – although they are cute –, but about being able to share a sweet and quiet moment in the middle of what has been a restless day.

Nico bends his head down and kisses his cheek with a smack.

“I love you,” Nico whispers in his ear.

Levi feels every muscle in his body clench up, and his heart starts beating erratically. The peace and quiet are definitely gone.

He tries saying something, anything, but his voice will not cooperate. All that’s running through his mind right now is _he loves me he loves me he loves me_.

“Babe?” Nico’s tone brings him back to reality.

He turns around and only catches his hurt expression before he realises he can’t do it. He extricates himself from Nico’s arms and runs.

There are tears blurring his vision and he almost crashes into a group of nurses talking to each other. When he reaches the elevator he jumps in and immediately slides down to sit on the floor.

He’s sobbing before he can stop himself, his head between his knees, and he’s having trouble breathing.

Somebody clears their throat.

“Is everything okay?” Dr. Karev asks.

Levi looks up at him and cries even harder.

“He said he loves me,” he nearly screams. “Nico Kim fucking loves me.”

Alex shifts uncomfortably. “Is it… a bad thing?”

“No,” Levi sobs more. “It’s incredible.”

He lifts his head and smiles so hard that his cheeks start to hurt. The tears won’t stop falling down his face, but he’s so happy that he doesn’t know what to do with himself.

“He loves me, and I love him, s-so much,” he tries explaining.

He’s sure that Alex is going to leave him alone in here as soon as the doors open. Instead, by the time the elevator dings he’s just looking at him with a small smile.

“You ran away when he told you, didn’t you?” he asks with a knowing tone.

“Yes,” Levi starts sobbing again.

-

A good dose of advice from Dr. Karev and two hours of stitching people up in the ER later, he’s running through the halls, looking for Nico.

He comes to a halt in front of the OR scheduling board, his eyes flitting from one name to the other. He finds Nico’s name, but on a surgery that should have just ended.

If he’s not operating, he must be resting in an on-call room. Levi runs. He really hopes he’s right.

“Nico?” he knocks incessantly. “Open up, it’s me.”

A few seconds of silence pass, enough that Levi’s spirit starts to flag. Then, the lock of the door turns, and Nico appears in all of his glory. He has a sad and hurt expression on his face.

“Can I come in?” Levi asks with an encouraging smile.

Nico moves out of the way and lets him in. He’s obviously putting on a hard front, but Levi can see through it. He loves him so much that his heart aches with it.

“What do you want?” he asks, his eyes glued to the floor.

Levi reaches out to take Nico’s hands in his. He lets him, so Levi comes closer and wraps his arms around Nico’s waist, laying his head on his chest. Nico resists for a second, then he hugs him back tightly.

“I love you,” Levi whispers.

Nico doesn’t answer, but Levi can feel his breath catching.

“I love you, I love you, I love you,” he repeats.

He props his chin between Nico’s pecs and smiles up at him. He has tears in his eyes again, but he’s nothing but happy.

“I’m an idiot,” he concedes, and Nico doesn’t disagree. “But I love you so much.”

Nico stares at him with a neutral expression. Little by little a smile appears on his lips.

“I love you too,” he brushes a kiss on Levi’s mouth. “You really made me beg for that one.”

Levi wraps his arms around his neck and kisses him, the kind of kiss that makes his toes curl in his shoes.

They still need to discuss how Levi’s first instinct was to run and cry happy tears in an elevator, but that can wait. For now, Levi locks he door behind his back, pushes _the man he loves_ down on the bed, and climbs on top of him.

**Author's Note:**

> The parts in Italian mean "I has", "I have", and the last one basically means "I have a vagina", but less socially acceptable. It's funnier in Italian, I swear!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed reading this! If you did, let me know with a comment, or reach out on [Tumblr](shesbreathless.tumblr.com) if you want to chat!


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